furloughs

The nation’s air traffic controllers can’t hang out a “closed for the day” sign, so starting April 21 travelers will start to see the impact of furloughed staff. Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Huerta testified April 18 that all of the agency’s 47,000 employees, many of them air traffic controllers, will be furloughed. Between April 21 and Sept. 30, each employee will be forced to take 11 days off without pay, leaving control towers short staffed. That means many snowbirds …